Animal Shelter Struggles as Dog Hoarding Case Drags On
HENRY COUNTY ,Tenn.- The Henry County Sheriff’s Department has been unable to take dogs in off the street, because of an animal hoarding case still being decided by the court. The shelter took in more than 25 dogs in January, in a suspected puppy mill case. The dogs have been at the shelter for more than 120 days. “It does cause a huge imposition to the sheriff’s office, and the animal shelter when we get into a bind like this,” said Sheriff Monte Belew. Sheriff Belew says stray dogs and dangerous dogs called in by residents are sent to another shelter in the City of Paris. But officials there can only accept them, if they have room. “There have been some situations where other dogs that we were going to take in and we couldn’t just do to the over crowding,” Belew said. Right now there is a waiting list of more than 80 people who want to adopt the dogs. “Everyday they call in to see if the judge has made a decision yet,” said Jeff Jones, a volunteer at the shelter. Deputies say the judge is scheduled to make a decision on a pretrial diversion in the case. Once a decision is made, the sheriff’s office can start the adoption process.
